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June 10, 2012 Toads are a Good Omen!

Many years back when I worked as the plant propagator at Paulino Gardens, I was honored to work with a wonderful group of women from Mexico. They were the ones that originally told me that seeing a toad is a good omen. So, when you see a toad, the very thing you are thinking about in that moment is likely to manifest in your life in some posititve way. This toad has been living in our woodstove greenhouse for some time now and he is constantly moving around among the flats. He keeps his eye on me as I go about my work. We’ve had a number of big challenges this year with our farm, so my hope is that having this critter hanging around will be a good omen for the remainder of the year.

We had quite a few hanging baskets and planters left over from our Open Farm Days Farm Stand, and they were sooooo beautiful! They found good homes though. We took the shelves out of our delivery trailer (they were too large and full to fit on the shelves) and loaded them in and Chris delivered them to one of our mountain wholesale customers. She was thrilled to get them and we were pleased to see them find their way into gardens.

Despite the drought, our fruit trees and berry bushes are really jammin’! And they are early this year coming into harvest, which I think is a good thing, since it is so hot and dry this year. I will begin picking the currants tomorrow after work. Most will be put into the freezer to use when I bake fairy bread throughout the rest of the year. Some will find their way into my breadfast bowl this week. Each morning we eat yogurt with fresh fruit, nuts,and of course, bittersweet chocolate chips, all sprinkled with cinnamon. The currants will be a perfect ingredient to the breakfast feast. M’lissa, when you return home in late summer we will bake some fairy bread in honor of your arrival home.

The currants are not the only fruit that will be ready to harvest this week. Our apricot tree is full to bending over, and nearly touching the ground, with heavy juicy fruit. I’ve been sampling them all weekend as I take breaks from writing my book. I think they will be ready to pick by tomorrow night or Tuesday/Wednesday latest! They are absolutely scrumptously delicious!! Many will be eaten fresh, but I will freeze a number of containers for winter use. I also will fill my food dehydrator with at least one load and possibly two loads of apricots sprinkled with maple sugar and cinnamon. These will make for wonderful trail snacks, or I will add them to my 10 grain hot cereal over the cold months next winter. If you will be harvesting apricots, peaches or apples (pears work too), dehydrating some of them in this fashion works quite nicely.

The other day I took my wash down off the clothesline, but didn’t have time to fold it right away, so I dumped in on my bed to deal with later on. Gwenivere instantly became the laundry queen! She curled up in the middle of the pile and formed it into a bit of a nest around herself and fell asleep for a long nap.

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Desert Canyon Farm

Desert Canyon Farm is Pollinator & Beneficial Insect Friendly

Our farm is a Xerces Society Pollinator Habitat, a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat, a United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary, and a member of the Colorado Birding & Wildlife Trails program. We put high value on the world of nature. As such we are a USDA certified organic farm, which means we are completely free of neonicotinoid pesticides, and other synthetic chemicals on this land. We use only approved organic or OMRI methods in our farm and greenhouse production. We always prefer to use nature as an ally in our work here, while earning our livelihood, and being a good member of the earth community. We invite you to join us in these efforts to grow plants and live life in an earth-friendly way.

Desert Canyon Farm Plant Lists

If you go to the pages on this blog called "Heritage Heirloom Food Plant Info" and "Herb Plant Info", you will find databases of all the plants we grow here at Desert Canyon Farm. The majority of these plants will be for sale in pots at our Farm Stand during our Open Farm Days each spring season

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